Reasons For Nexus 4 Shortage Coming To Light

I’ve been waiting and waiting to get my hands on a Nexus 4. I don’t even care whether it’s an 8Gb or 16GB version, I just want stock Google. Now, I know I can get one pretty easily on Craigslist, but there is no way am I going to pay a $150 to $200 premium. This leaves me in a constant state of frustration with Google. What kind of company releases a flagship product and then doesn’t make it available to the public?

There has been plenty of speculation around the web as to why this is so. Some have suggested that this is intentional as Google doesn’t want to outsell its partners like Samsung, LG, or HTC. Others have speculated that LG and Google pulled the plug on the Nexus 4 to get ready already for the Nexus 5. I don’t know about you, but that one seemed really absurd to me.

Well today, it seems some sort of explanation for the device’s shortages has been uncovered. Over at French publication Challenges, LG’s mobile boss for the country, Cathy Robin revealed that demand in the UK for the Nexus 4 is ten times what was initially ordered by Google to produce. She goes on to say that Google forecasted sales for the Nexus 4 based on sales figures of former Nexus units. She explained, “Current deliveries of LG Google correspond to what had been pre-ordered on Google Play. We continue to deliver regularly. But it is lean. This is why the Nexus 4 is always shown as exhausted and the potential buyers feel they can not buy it.”

So Google didn’t anticipate as much demand for Nexus units starting at $309 off contract? As much as I love everything about Google, some of their planning and decision-making really makes me shake my head.